Liam watched with tense nerve as symbols appeared on the screen spelling out Xrantrey'perhkazc. It was the real name of the red dragon ancestor of war.
Or rather 'Xrantrey' was his name while perhkazc was more of a title and literally meant 'war ancestor'. This was extremely obscure knowledge which probably would take the current players at least another year to find out.
But Liam had a strong hunch that this could be the correct password after everything he had seen in the ancient ruins. The image of the war ancestor was everywhere, seemingly serving as a symbol to the unit stationed here.
Under Liam's eyes the password was inserted. The screen flashed once. Suddenly it changed and revealed a long list with various entries.
It really worked...
Liam took a deep breath. He began fiddling around with the screen, realizing that it didn't allow him to enter any menus or the like, seemingly only existing to let one browse the list.
Perhaps this was the reason why the security was rather weak.
But the information Liam could find was already quite interesting. The list comprised hundreds of cargo reports, each entry detailing cargo which went in and out of the ancient complex, all chronologically arranged.
Curious, Liam tapped on the very first line. Suddenly a light shot out of the screen, projecting a report into the air.
Liam was surprised to see the hologram technology here. From what he knew, the federation had access to the technology as well, but it wasn't very mature, extremely expensive, and thus not used widely.
Overcoming his surprise Liam probingly moved his finger up and down in the light, scrolling through the report without hiding his amazement. While doing so he skimmed through the text, realizing that the listed cargo were all kinds of building materials.
Pressed for time Liam closed the first report and randomly choose a few others.
Food, uniforms, materials, for a while Liam didn't detect anything surprising. However, after a while the reports changed. The delivery of weapons to the complex began. Simultaneously materials Liam never heard of before were sent out of the planet.
At this point Liam finally became hooked, reading everything as if it were a tense novel.
Just from the shift in the types of cargo an oppressive atmosphere was created. At some point machinery began to arrive, their entries carrying remarks about the machinery's sensibility, various warning signs added behind it.
After a few more entries the machinery's destination became known, as it was ordered to be brought to a lab.
Liam's eyes lit up. He browsed the list, searching for more cargo reports mentioning the lab. But when he wanted to open another such report, he was suddenly met with a warning sign reminding him that he had insufficient authorization.
This time Liam was stumped as he wasn't asked for any password. He had no idea how to unlock the report. He could only try his luck further down.
After getting blocked from a few other reports, Liam finally found some which granted him entry. Browsing through them, the tone changed again. From this point on the complex was clearly exporting more than importing.
On top of that a few items in the reports were blackened, all seemingly coming from the lab.
But what was most strange about the latter entries, was that the destination of all flights was the same, a set of coordinates. Additionally, all the flights had an estimated travel time of two weeks, which indicates that their destination couldn't be far.
One had to know that the ancient civilization spanned more than the known universe, which not only included the United Human Federation but also alien territory.
Liam furrowed his brows, deciding to save the coordinates in his phone for now, prepared to figure it out later.
Next, he continued browsing the cargo reports, realizing that towards the end there were very little supplies arriving and most of it were departures. Even the people living here seemed to leave. Judging from the information only the lab remained active.
Finally, Liam reached the end of the list. The very last entry was only a single line noting down an unauthorized start of a spaceship. It was an obvious guess that this spaceship was used by the last people who had still been living here.
Liam took his eyes away and let out a deep breath. It was as if he had experienced the life of this city through those few reports. Images played in his mind of the people arriving, constructing, creating the lab, and eventually disappearing. All that remained were the buildings themselves, which held on until today.
Sorting out his thoughts Liam quickly focused on the most obvious point of interest, the lab. C told him to explore the depths of the ruins and something like a lab definitely sounded worth exploring.
From the reports Liam vaguely understood that the lab couldn't be far from the command centre. Thus, he left the building and began to move in circles to scout the surroundings.
As he did so, however, he felt a strange sensation. Somehow the void seemed to have grown a bit thinner, allowing him to see further.
Liam frowned but he couldn't figure it out, hypothesizing it might be caused by their team moving around which stirred the void.
Ignoring the matter he searched the surroundings. Soon, he came across a conspicuous building at the other side of the starting platforms. Warning signs were everywhere outside, and a large, heavy gate blocked the path.
Even if it wasn't the lab, it was definitely an important place. Thus, Liam didn't hesitate to push the gate open. Under his strength it only moved slowly, opening bit by bit.
Opening a gap big enough for him to pass through, Lima first peeked inside. He found a room with statues depicting mages on both sides, leading up to another gate. Yet to his surprise the room only held a few traces of void.
This indicated that the walls were made from material able to block out the void energy! Liam wasn't sure if the federation had access to such material. He definitely had to tell Hoffman later!
But for now, Liam still had time to continue exploring. He stepped forward and entered the room. Behind him the gate slowly closed by itself.
Suddenly a light breeze blew in the room. Liam was surprised to notice the density of the void decreasing. It was sucked away through an opening in the ceiling.
Liam quickly realized that someone must've been here shortly before he arrived or else there would not have been any void energy in the room.
As this thought emerged Liam considered turning around. However, according to C he only had to explore the depths of the ruins. It didn't matter if others discovered something before him. Thus, there was no reason to stop now.
While Liam was coming to a decision, the room had already been freed of void energy. Immediately the protective starlight surrounding his body flickered and disappeared.
Liam's eyes lit up as this basically extended his three-hour time limit as long as he stayed in this place.
However, this room was obviously only an entrance with little to see. The real secrets lied further ahead. Liam didn't hesitate and walked forward.
But after only taking a single step, a chill ran down Liam's spine. A rumbling echoed through the room as the statues on both sides turned towards Liam, raising the staffs in their hands and aiming them at him.
Liam could feel the power brewing on the staff tips. He felt as if a single wrong step was enough to forfeit his life.
As the young man stood frozen in place, a mechanical voice sounded out, also peaking ancient draconian:
"Lab security activated! Authorize yourself!"
Liam's thoughts raced as he tried his old trick again:
"Xrantrey'perhkazc!"
Suddenly a bolt of lightning erupted. The foremost statue unleashed an attack brimming with terrible power. Liam instinctively jumped backwards, colliding with the gate behind him. He shivered, realizing that he might've gotten severely injured if the statue hadn't deliberately fired close to his feet as a warning.
Liam's thoughts moved quickly as he tried to find a solution. With this security in place whoever came here before him most likely escaped quickly. Maybe he would also be forced to do so and search for clues elsewhere.
But just then an idea came to Liam's mind. With a flip of his wrist a black cloak appeared in his hand. It was the shadow cloak which he gained as a reward from C before. Since the last time he infiltrated the warehouse of some gangsters the shadow cloak had been collecting dust in the inventory granted by C.
Now, the item might be able to assist him in overcoming the security measures. Liam donned the shadow cloak and stared at the statues. Silence reigned for a few seconds until the statues suddenly turned back towards their original positions.
Liam grinned seeing that his idea worked. Even the security system left by the ancient civilization couldn't detect him under the shadow cloak's cover.